Banff Culture & Heritage

Banff is blessed with a strong cultural heritage and there are many ways to immerse yourself into both the past and the present of the people, places, and events that continue to influence the direction of the town.
For breakfast, the Cake Company on Bear St is a great place to enjoy a coffee and a muffin and see many of the older Banff characters still spinning their stories before their working day.
Banff Alberta has several excellent museums, each offering a different perspective. The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies is perhaps the most famous, and portrays the history and culture of Banff and the Canadian Rockies, through its variety of current exhibitions. They also offer a selection of guided tours. The Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum is dedicated to the culture of the First Nations of North America and displays interpretive exhibitions and artifacts, and the Banff Park Museum displays an extensive range of natural history specimens and is itself a building of historic significance.
For lunch you could try a chicken and cranberry sandwich at Evelyns Coffee Bar or some fresh pasta at Coyotes, both Banff owned and popular with locals.
For shopping, tasteful gifts and local books can be found at the Banff Book & Art Den, and fine pieces of local artwork can be viewed and purchased at Mountain Galleries, or Canada House Gallery.
A fine place for dinner would be the Three Ravens Restaurant at the Banff Centre, which has impressive views over the Bow Valley and is perfectly located if you are planning to take in a Banff Centre performance afterwards. The Banff Centre regularly hosts live music, dance, drama, and mountain culture events, and it is well worth checking to see their events calendar to see what’s on while you are here.
To spend the night, why not stay at Banff’s most historic hotel, the Fairmont Banff Springs, or at Treetops, an exclusive Banff B&B, owned and run by long-time Banff locals.

The Ski Season Has Started!

Banff’s local ski resort, Mount Norquay, was one the first resorts to open in Canada on Saturday Nov 8th. Skiing and riding is currently limited to the weekends on the Cascade chair lift and Speculation ski run.
Also on the same day Lake Louise Mountain Resort opened for business with the Glacier Express quad chair and the Wiwaxy run in operation. Lake Louise is now open daily.
Sunshine Village will open just a few days later on Nov 14th with Strawberry, Wawa and Standish chairs expected to be running thanks to a base of over 60cm.
I think it’s safe to say that early season conditions will be found in all resorts, which is a small price to pay to be able to ski in November!

Film Festival Award Winners

Once again the Banff Mountain Film Festival was jam packed with exciting and inspirational films, and here’s a quick list of the award winning films for 2008:

Grand Prize - The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Andrew Gregg (you can watch the whole movie here).
Best Feature Length Mountain Film - Stranded - I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains…, directed by Gonzalo Arijón, produced by Marc Silvera.
Best Film on Mountain Sports - Journey to the Center, directed by Jens Hoffmann, produced by Iiro Seppanen, Jeb Corliss.
Best Short Mountain Film - If You’re Not Falling, directed by Dave Brown, produced by Paul Diffley.
People’s Choice Award - Red Gold, directed by Ben Knight, Travis Rummel, produced by Travis Rummel.
People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels - Crux, directed by Alexander Lavigne, produced by Ryan Leech.
Alpine Club of Canada Award for Best Film on Climbing - Committed 2: Grit Kids, directed by Paul Diffley, produced by Dave Brown.
Best Film on Mountain Culture - Tracking the White Reindeer, directed by Hamid Sardar, produced by Manuel Catteau.
Best Film on Mountain Environment - The Meadow, directed by Jan Haft, produced by Tom Synnatzschke.
Special Jury Award - Psyche: Patagonian Winter directed and produced by Alastair Lee, Seasons produced by Jamie Houssian, Saving Luna directed by Suzanne Chisholm, Michael Parfit, produced by Suzanne Chisholm.

If you weren’t lucky enough to attend the film festival in Banff, you should try to see some of the award winning movies on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

Skiing in the Canadian Rockies

Visitors from all over the world come to Banff to sample the world class skiing and snowboarding at Mount Norquay, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise. Uncrowded slopes, fantastic snow conditions, a high standard of accommodation, and customer service that is second to none, are just some of the reasons why skiers and riders come back to Banff year after year.

Find out more about the ski resorts in Banff by visiting our Banff ski guide.

The Sharp End - Sender Films

As you might expect the Banff Mountain Film Festival tends to show several films of the rock climbing genre, indeed this viewer saw 3 in the first 2 days, plus many over the course of the past few festivals. You may be tempted to think that it’s all been done before, that is until you see The Sharp End.

While many climbing and mountaineering movies show athletes ‘pushing the limits’, none push them quite as far as the climbers in The Sharp End, which portrays several of the world’s top climbers, climbing at an extremely high level of risk, and of course reward.

We are fortunate to see Ammon McNeely show us his tricks on his home turf on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, McNeely’s climbing partner Chris McNamara base jumping in Europe, and Steph Davis free-soloing on the 1000 foot Perverted Sanctuary.

An incredible experience was had by Alex Honnold and others climbing spires on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany, with local legend Bernd Arnold as their guide, and without traditional gear or chalk!
Dean Potter perhaps gives us a glimpse of the future when he introduces the concept of ‘free base’ or ‘base solo’ (free climbing wearing a base jumping chute in case of a fall) on Deep Blue Sea (5.12+) on the north face of the Eiger.

While most of the time the viewer watches in awe of the sheer courage, ability and focus shown by these athletes, you can’t help thinking what motivates a person to go to such extreme levels of risk. Indeed the question is posed in the movie and goes unanswered.
Without doubt The Sharp End is one of the most thrilling rock climbing movies this viewer has seen and is guaranteed to get your heart pumping!

Find out more about this movie and other excellent climbing movies at www.senderfilms.com.

The Sharp End was shown on Nov 2nd 2008 as part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. It will be shown again on the weekend of Nov 8th and 9th as part of the Daytime Screenings Program A.

Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk

This movie uses a wonderful family rafting trip along the Colorado River to make a statement about the decreasing supply of water on the planet, and the ever increasing demand and misuse of this precious commodity. On the rafting adventure are Wade Davis, anthropologist, author and photographer, and his long time friend Robert Kennedy Jnr, chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance, and their daughters Tara Davis and Kick Kennedy.
Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk has a serious environmental message, but the viewer could be forgiven for losing themselves in the sheer beauty of the journey, with outstanding cinematography and amazing footage both from the air and at river level within the Grand Canyon. There is also an element of adventure, rafting through the fierce rapids of the Colorado River, and camping among ornate rock features along its banks. However, we are constantly reminded of the decrease in water levels through comparisons of various sections of the Colorado River with old photographs, and the much more obvious drops in levels of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, at the two major dams along the river. We are also told the story of the Anasazi, who were forced to abandon their important settlement of Chaco Canyon 1000 years ago due to a terrible drought at that time, and when we see the bright lights and fountains of Las Vegas, one of the major reasons for the lack of water in the Colorado River, we cannot help imagine that history may be on the verge of repeating itself.
At the end of the movie we are reminded how we can help to conserve water in our everyday lives, and even if you are already making those efforts, after being inspired by this movie you will probably try that little bit harder!
Narrated by Robert Redford, Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk is a beautiful movie and is strongly recommended.

Preview the film at the official website: www.grandcanyonadventurefilm.com.

Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk was shown at the Banff Mountain Film Festival on Nov 1st 2008.